Numerous applications require the provision of a gas. It is frequently necessary here that this gas has a certain humidity, therefore a certain proportion of water and/or other liquid. In order to make available such gases with the desired humidity, and/or to increase the humidity in the gas, humidifiers usually come into use. An example of such an application is a fuel cell system, in which a cathode gas, which is to be fed to a cathode of a fuel cell, is humidified with water or water vapour for optimizing the operation of the fuel cell system and/or to prevent damage to the fuel cell.
A corresponding humidifier is known from DE 10 2012 022 349 A1. The humidifier proposed therein has a humidifier block with a plurality of moisture-permeable membranes. The humidifier block is flowed through within the membrane by a first gas, and outside the membrane by a second gas, wherein the moisture-permeable configuration of the membranes permits a moisture exchange between the gases. For fixing the membranes in the humidifier block, a spacer is provided, which completely fills the humidifier block outside the membranes or is arranged in a layer- or tier-like manner between the membranes.
A disadvantage in such a realization of the humidifier block is, in particular, the complex production of the humidifier block. Thus, with the spacers, configured in a layer-like manner, the humidifier block must be stacked layer by layer, in order to realize the desired arrangement of the membranes in the humidifier block. Furthermore, both the filling and the layer-shaped configuration of the spacer reduces the capability of the humidifier block to be flowed through, in particular by the gas flowing outside the membrane, which leads to a correspondingly reduced exchange of moisture between the gases.